A promise, but also a warning to the Pharisees "God's mercy reaches so far that He still looks upon your abominable sins with forbearance, hoping that you will finally convert and repent. For even a sinner in the middle of hell crying out to his God and Lord for help will find help and redemption. But you will be preparing your own judgement, and truly, it has already come close!" (GGJ XI, chap. 5) Eternal punishment, death and fire, wrath of God, the worm that never dies "In Lorber's work 'From Hell to Heaven', a spirit in the beyond says this to the Lord: "There is one thing I still need for my heart to be completely at rest, namely, enlightenment concerning the concept of a so-called eternal punishment, occurring in almost all Christian sects. Is there such a thing, or is there not? For if man is to receive an eternal reward for the earthly minutes he conducts himself properly, it stands to reason that there must also be an eternal punishment for a time of bad conduct. I find this assumption quite logical." The Lord replies: "You do, but not I. Since I Myself am eternal life, I can certainly never have created a being for eternal death! A so-called punishment, wherever it may occur, can therefore always only be a means for the attainment of one main, fundamental goal (i.e. the blissful perfection of the beings), but not ever of an, as it were, hostile anti-goal." Says the one thus instructed: "Yes, O Lord, I do understand this now. But in Scripture, in words coming from Your own holy mouth, it is only too clearly indicated that there is an 'eternal fire which never goes out', and a 'worm that never dies'! Indeed, it is written: 'Away with you, who are accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his servants!' - O Lord, I know many texts which vividly portray hell and its eternal fire. Yet, if there is no eternal punishment, I absolutely fail to see how an eternal fire which never goes out and a work that never dies can be mentioned in scripture." Says the Lord: "My dear friend! It is true that an eternal death is mentioned, which is like an everlasting judgment, and this judgment is caused by My eternal, immutable order. The latter is the so-called fire of wrath, or rather fire of zeal, of My will which, of course, must remain forever unchangeable, since otherwise all creation would suddenly come to an end.” (From Hell to Heaven) The prison and the prisoner
"Whoever allows himself to be enticed by the world and its matter (which necessarily must be - and remain - under judgment, or it would not be 'world'), must be considered lost and dead for as long as he cannot forsake the judged matter. Thus, for the sake of the created beings, there must be an eternal judgment, an eternal fire and an eternal death. But from this it does not follow that a spirit imprisoned in judgment must remain imprisoned for as long as this judgment can last - any more than on earth, if you had built a strong prison, the prisoners would be sentenced to remain there for the whole time the prison would last. Is it not obvious to everyone that 'prison' and 'imprisonment' are two different things? Of course, the prison is - and remains - forever, and the fire of My zeal must never go out. But the prisoners remain in the prison only until such time when they have changed and bettered themselves. By the way, in the whole of Scripture you find not a word about an eternal rejection or condemnation of a spirit, but only about an eternal condemnation of the non-compliance with My eternal order. Truly, depravity or anti-order is forever condemned, but the depraved only as long as he is living in depravity! Thus, truly, there is also an eternal hell - yet no spirit who, on account of his depravity, would be condemned to eternal hell, but only until his betterment. Surely, I said to the Pharisees: "Therefore, you will be all the more condemned (or, for a still longer time condemned!) - "but never: Therefore you will be condemned forever! - Can you now understand your so intimidating Scriptural texts?" (From Hell to Heaven II/226, 9 on; I/24, 5 on)." God is not a sadistic Father for His children! “03] Said I: “For you it might be straight, but for Me it is very crooked! If you believe that either hell or heaven are serving as a motivation to prevent people from doing evil and guide people to do good, you are still filled by an utterly wrong believe; for the very evil person laughs about your hell and your heaven, and the very good is good also without your hell and without your heaven. Since heaven and hell as put by yourself, are really suited to make every person as evil as possible. 04] Since who does good for only the reward, lends his money against high interest, and who does this, has no neighborly love and even less so any love for God. For who does not love his neighbor, whom he can see, how can he love God whom he cannot see? 05] But let’s take away heaven and hell and afterwards look at your devout people! They will begin to rage and rave even worse than an extremely profit greedy broker, for whom his debtor has run away with his loan money; and because they do not have to fear punishing hell anymore, such people can only be restrained by sanctioned world laws. 06] Already in the beginning the people acted badly, when the elders described to their children hell as hot as possible and painted heaven with all colors of light and all indulging comfort for human senses. Thereby they effectuated a kind of fear for God, which however never turned into any true love for God and the neighbor because hell was much easier to attain, but degenerated into an even bigger fear in weaker souls and with the stronger souls of more inner light it effectuated a complete indifference towards God and towards their fellowmen. For these stronger persons believed for themselves in nothing, but in pro forma they played along, to keep the common people in their believe, so that they would not rise against those for whom they had to work, so that they could prepare for themselves a heaven on earth non plus ultra, for the lost believe in a God, heaven and hell. 07] The further result of it is the current nearly total godlessness among the people, who long since would have risen with the biggest rage against the master people and would have asked them for the reason why they have to serve and submit to them, if it wasn’t for the worldly laws of Rome sanctioned by the sword preventing them from doing so. 08] See, all this is a result of such feeling of justice in the human soul, which always just like you preaches to the people with the sharpest words, that God always rewards the good in heaven, but as a consequence of His relentless justice, He also punishes the evil forever in the most terrifying hell with most unheard tortures forever without any relief! 09] O you fools! Does there exists a father with only a little love for his children, who would throw one of his children, who committed a mistake against his order, for the rest of his life into a dungeon and on top of it punishes him daily for as long he lives?! If no human father could do this, who basically as a person is bad, how much less will the Father in heaven do such, who is the everlasting and purest love and goodness Himself! 10] Or just imagine for yourself a truly wise and quite reasonable person on earth! Will he ever approve of an everlasting punishment for a sinner, or will he award such punishment to anybody? Surely not, - and even less so the most wise God! 11] But I say to you, that in future among My true followers, no punishment not even temporary penalties should exist, although until now it said: ‘Life for a life, eye for an eye and tooth for tooth.’ If someone slaps you in the face, do not hit him back, but hold for him the other cheek, so that he can give you another slap, otherwise he cannot have peace with you, and that there will be peace and unity between you! If someone has struck you and you have lost an eye, do not do the same to him, but forgive him and as someone suffering, you will better his heart. Never repay evil with evil, and as My true disciples you will have peace in the world and thereby show, that you are truly My disciples!” {Ex.21,24; Lev.24,19. 20; Mt.05,38; Mt.05,39; Lk.06,29; Rom.12,17; 1 Thess.05,15; 1 Pet.03,09} (The Great Gospel of John, Book 6, chap. 243) Meaning of the text: ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones!’ Every wicked spirit curses itself. - Sin against the holy Spirit. “1. I continue: “If, as sharp thinker, you had gone through yonder sentence from the Gospel, which seemed to terrible to you, then only from the grammatical aspect you would already, from the word-structure at first glance, have recognized that God could not and would not therewith have pronounced a judge’s sentence upon the so-called stiff-necked, mortal sinners forever, out of omnipotence. 2. “For behold, it says there: ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones!’. Those subject to this command therefore are already cursed; otherwise the command would have to read: ‘You had always sinned before Me incorrigibly; I now, as God, condemn you to the torment of hell-fire forever!’. 3. “If however those on whom the Deity pronounces such sentence are already cursed, then it follows firstly that here, God does not stand up as judge, but only as marshalling shepherd, having to strictly point out another way to the spirits, completely separated through the power of their own will. For otherwise, lacking all ties with the love of God, they would have to end up directly in the arms of omnipotence, which verily would be the end of them! 4. “It can secondly be asked: ‘who cursed them?’. Impossibly God! Because if God cursed someone, then there would be neither love nor wisdom in Him. If the Deity were to crusade against Its works, would It not actually crusade against Itself for Its own ruin, - instead of fortifying Itself from one eternity to another through the growing perfection of Its works, - Its children! 5. “Since God cannot possibly manifest as judge with His omnipotence, but only from love and wisdom as organizing shepherd, it is clear that such spirits must have been sentenced in some other way. But by whom? - This question is easy to answer if one is sufficiently introspective to realize the following: that a being has on the one hand a fully free spirit and will, which actually is grounded in God’s love and wisdom. On the other hand, to isolate it from omnipotence for becoming a truly free being, it also for a while has to have in omnipotently judged body and outer, judged world with its own stimulants under judgment. Hence it cannot be judged and determined by anyone other than itself. Such free being therefore can be ‘cursed’ only by itself, that is, completely separate itself from the Deity. 6. “The Deity however, Who does not want to deprive such being of freedom either, can do no more than call out to the nature of such wayward beings and with earnest love indicate to them the way by which they can again establish ties with God’s love and wisdom. Outside of this tie, no absolute freedom and hence no spiritual everlasting life is possible, for outside this connection, only God’s omnipotence acts, within which only the power of God’s love and wisdom integrated with omnipotence can persist as the arch-primeval life itself. Every other life isolated from this primordial life must perish and be eternally paralyzed, not being by itself capable of the feeblest resistance to the most endless heavyweight power. 7. “Wherefore it is written: ‘God resides within the eternally inaccessible light!’, which is to say: ‘God’s omnipotence, - God’s actual power, filling infinity, is forever inaccessible to the nature of every created being, if it wants to endure. For every conflict with God’s omnipotence is the death of the being. Because every being, having completely separated from God’s love, and taking it up with this might, must necessarily be completely swallowed up by such almight, being only with difficulty or not at all, capable of disentangling from it – somewhat like a mite buried under the rubble of the Himalayas! How would you free it?” (From Hell to Heaven, chap. 29) Cause of hell and the torment of hell. Secrets of possession 5. “Says Robert: “Indeed, this is totally right again! But if the Deity is filled with the greatest love, which It is bound to be, as I begin to comprehend gradually, then the question begs itself: ‘how could the Deity have arranged such most tormenting place or condition, where a spirit has to first bear indescribable pain before he potentially nears perfection, and through that pass over to milder circumstances? Has there to be a hell? And do such spirits have to be capable of pain? Could not all this be arranged in a less cruel way?” 6. Say I: “Hearken, my dear friend, do you think that God set up hell in that way? Oh, here your are much mistaken! Behold, this was done by the spirits themselves, from antiquity. God merely permitted it in order not to curtail their freedom in the least. But that He should ever have created a hell, that no being in all the heavens can even remotely imagine. For if God could create a hell, then He would also have to be imbued with sin and evil, which would be an impossibility for God, for it is not possible for Him to act against His own eternal order. And so it is unthinkable that God out of Himself, in the actual sense of the word, could create a hell. But He can and must allow it to the freest spirits, if out of their completely perverted original order they prepare circumstances for themselves which indeed are most evil and wicked! 7. You shall not however, throughout all infinity anywhere find a place which had already been founded by God as hell. For nowhere is there a hell outside of man himself. If however man of his own free will, by total disregard of God’s word develops hell, not turning to the easy keeping of God’s commandments: how can God be blamed if a spirit voluntarily abandons, mocks and blasphemes Him? 8. Since God alone however is the true life and also the light of all lights, and hence also the only complete blessing of all beings, - it then also is understandable that a state of godlessness can have nothing pleasant, - since there can be no life, light or goodness without God! 9. A man who abandons God, casting Him out from himself and not taking Him up again, necessarily must create a true hell within himself, which must be bad and wicked in everything. If such human spirit then, from such godless state, necessarily fares very badly – getting worse with time, then the Deity cannot be blamed. Because if the Deity were to nonetheless take over such being omnipotently in spite of the being’s most stubborn resistance then this would instantly annihilate such being, which would be against all divine order. 10. For were the Deity to destroy even the smallest being that had once been set free out of Itself, then this would be the start of the destruction of all beings. Since the Deity however unchangeably established Its order for the non-destruction ever of whatsoever being of any self-development, the everlasting enduring of every being is thereby assured, and therewith the possibility of becoming an exceedingly blessed one, or remain unhappy, if desired! 11. If someone owns a vineyard into which only precious vines are planted, the owner eradicating all precious vines afterwards, setting thorns and thistles in their place, finding more pleasure in such wild growths rather than in simple vines, - say, is the Deity also to blame, if this foolish owner takes in no wine harvest, becoming thereby a miserable person without means? 12. Behold, such is also the case with all spirits who will not put up with God’s order, not wanting to nurture the splendid divine vineyard within themselves! If then harvesting thorns and thistles in place of superb grapes, can God be blamed as the Creator of such disaster? “ (From Hell to Heaven, chap.30) “Most of you have read about peculiar cases of possession, but you do not have the particular knowledge of how these possessions come about, whence and under what circumstances. For your information, here is a dramatic portrayal. Satan, who has a multitude of evil followers, has his cohorts come among human beings at certain times. They are given the task of leaving no stone unturned so as to entrap any soul for the court of the prince of all evil and lies. The evil ones thereupon proceed on their secret path upwards to the upper world. They mask their intentions as adroitly as possible, so that any good spirit which they might encounter will not become suspicious. Should such a good spirit ask for a reason, the evil ones will give a respectable answer and implore their mighty keeper to let them ascend, so that they may find the opportunity to remedy many of their past evils and better themselves. In the kingdom of good and evil spirits, nothing is more respected than free will, provided that the intentions of these spirits be not too evil. They will be allowed to ascend, of course, under constant secret observation. Since this permission is mostly abused, they cannot object when they return to more unpleasant conditions than those in which they were before. What do these evil ones do when they ascend to the upper world? Some of these spirits of human beings, which, during their earthly life, were very haughty and rich landowners, proceed to their castle, if it still exists. These they haunt, because they want to make people aware that there is a treasure hidden in the castle. When these people become aware of this, they implore the evil spirit to show them where and when to dig in order to find the treasure. Then the evil spirit shows them all kinds of signs, indicating where the treasure is supposedly buried. The people dig, but find nothing. They continue their search with the greatest of zeal. And that is when it happens that such a hellish spirit chooses a victim, and causes him to be possessed. And the easiest way whereby this can occur is when food and drink are taken in and it is forgotten to ask Me for My blessings. Once such a haunting spirit has achieved his purpose, then the haunting in the old castle is usually at an end. When a haunting spirit has entered a human being, he immediately explores that person’s heart. The spirit soon knows his weaknesses, and begins to breathe in his evil inclinations, wishes, and desires. When these are accepted by the heart with approval, the evil one remains quietly as an observer, to see how such a human being gradually, in accordance with these hellish inspirations, begins to act. When a human being has sufficiently fulfilled the will of the inherent evil spirit, then this spirit usually causes a deadly ailment in the flesh. Through this the evil spirit seeks to wrench the corrupted soul as quickly as possible from the physical body and deliver it as booty to his lord and master. However, the outcome is never in accordance with the plan of such a spirit. As soon as the soul leaves the flesh, be she good or evil, she will always be received by angels. The evil spirit will be severely disciplined and returned to his master, where he will receive another very severe punishment. And such a failure will not be sent up too soon again. The soul, with her inherent spirit, is placed by angels into such a state that she gradually recognizes how she conducted her earthly existence. If she is willing to convert, she will go higher and higher. Should she be obstinate, it will lead her more deeply downwards, and thence to severe punishment. Should this not cause her to return, she may freely, in accordance with her own will, proceed on a trial run into Hell. Should the soul like it there, she may then remain there in accordance with her inclinations. Should she not like it there, she may then return. That occurs very rarely, however, since Hell is filled with all kinds of promising enticements. There are countless deceptions for bringing a soul closer to the actual being of Satan, so that she may become a part entirely concurring with him. Of course, that will never happen, because every soul contains her own spirit, and she cannot detach herself from this spirit. This pure spirit is the opposite of Satan’s spirit. When such a soul wants to get closer to Satan, the spirit within her opposes her as a judge, imposes punishment, and torments the soul like an inner fire. Through this torment, the soul is removed as far from Satan as possible, so that she may better herself. If she continues to better herself, it becomes easier and easier for her, the closer she comes to the purity of her inherent spirit. Should this improvement continue, and if she attains the condition of her spirit, then the soul may reach bliss. Because this is the difference between bliss and damnation: in bliss the entire soul passes over into the spirit, and the spirit is then the actual being. In damnation, the soul wants to expel the spirit and take on another, namely Satan’s spirit. But since the spirit within her has the opposite polarity, he practices the counter force which repels her severely from Satan. The closer a soul comes to the being of Satan, the more severe is the effect of the spirit within her towards the spirit of Satan. This reaction is a very painful feeling for the soul. And that is where the suffering and pain in Hell come from. This reaction shows itself in appearance as an inextinguishable fire; that is the worm in the soul that never ever dies, and whose fire never becomes extinct. This is one and the same fire that causes the highest bliss in an angel and the greatest calamity in a devil. From this description, you may form the proper idea of the nature of Hell and of Satan’s practices. It is, of course, not the only method by which Satan attempts to capture souls for himself through his cohorts. Should these spirits be of a better kind, they will not be interfered with to take into their possession the flesh of innocent human beings, and even the physical bodies of children. But the souls of these human beings are carefully protected, and are guarded in the heart from insinuations. If an emigrant of Hell who is less wicked wants to do something good, then he may partake of the grace and mercy which such an innocent human being enjoys. Should such a spirit behave improperly and carry on all kinds of foul play in the body which he causes to be possessed, be will either soon be cast out or will be quieted in this body. At times, several spirits are permitted to take possession of one body. But they must promise beforehand that they seek only their salvation in this body, and their wish will be granted. Such spirits do not follow the advice of the angels; rather, they turn directly to the Lord. They insist stubbornly that only in this manner can they reach the Lord. Thus their wish is complied with, because the angels let those spirits with which they are entrusted learn through their own experiences. Upon the path of taking possession, the desired results are not achieved most of the time. That is why such permission is only granted once, and very seldom for a second time. Then another path is taken, namely the path of judgment, punishment, and pain. A proud soul can endure much; however, when it becomes too unbearable for her, she turns back for a while. The main evil of the soul consists of the reproaches which she makes against herself as soon as she feels better, which arise from Satan’s insinuations. They are not of repentance, but that she lets herself be intimidated and driven back by torment. If she had endured the pain, she would have become one with Satan’s might, and the magnificence of the Lord would have come to an end. Through these delusions the soul usually returns with even greater wickedness. In lower Hell, there really exist those that will not give up these delusions for a continuous, ever-increasing torment and pain, and find, in a way, a triumph in this, when they resist the Lord even in the greatest of torment. Their obstinacy is so great that even the full force of the fire of wrath will not make them turn back. But in days to come, after their spirit has been taken away, they will have to tolerate, with their center, the voyage into eternal destruction. (Earth and Moon, chap. 58) Hell or heaven should not serve as motivation. The 'pious people' "If you believe that either hell or heaven should serve as motivation for keeping men from evil and turning them towards the good, you are still grounded in a basically wrong belief. For the totally depraved man ridicules your hell and your heaven, and the really righteous man is good without your hell and your heaven. According to your understanding of the matter, hell and heaven would have a particularly depraving effect on every human being. For he who does the good only for the sake of the reward, lends his money at high interest; and whoever does that, has no love for the fellow man and even less love for God. However, let us leave our heaven and hell and cast a look at your 'pious people'! Look, they will begin to rage even worse than the most greedy money lender whose debtor has absconded with the borrowed money. Since they no longer have to fear any punishment in hell, such people can then only be restrained by ratified secular laws. Right from the beginning, people have done the wrong thing when they implanted in their children an excessive fear of hell and described to them heaven with all its pleasures, appealing to the human senses. Thereby they did achieve a kind of fear of God which, however, because it was so easy to end in hell and so hard to gain heaven, never developed into true love for God and the fellow man, but with the weaker hearts developed into an ever-growing fear and with the stronger ones, possessing more inner light, into complete indifference concerning God and the fellow men. For these stronger people had no faith of their own but merely pretended to believe, so that the common people would stick to their faith and not rebel against those for whom they had to work. A further consequence of this is the almost total godlessness prevailing among men who, had not the secular laws restrained them with the force of the sword, would long ago have risen in anger against their masters and, by the use of violence, challenged their right to suppress them. Look, all this is the result of such a false concept of justice in men who, at all times, preach in the harshest terms that God forever rewards the good in heaven, yet owing to His inexorable justness, metes out everlasting punishment to the wicked, making them suffer unheard of eternal, relentless torment in the most horrible hell." (Great Gospel vol. 6, chap. 243, chap. 3 on). Possibility of salvation for any soul, including those living in hellish conditions in the beyond “This great diversity, existing among the good spirits as well as among the evil, who prefer to regard Satan as their deity in the same way as the good regard Me, - this diversity is the basis for the spiritual life and activity necessary for the continuance of the great realm of spirits. Although the great multitude of fallen spirits under their principal leaders took a direction other than the one destined for all, their actions, which are opposed to Me and My principle of good, must nevertheless serve My purpose. In the results, which are not according to their wishes, they must recognize My omnipotence which they cannot evade whatever they do. The same way of spiritual existence and activity is also found among the souls of those who were called away from all the globes and are now living in the beyond. Also they have freedom of will. They can progress or retrogress, they can do whatever they wish. They can, in a minute, proceed from the hellish torture of a tormenting conscience to the beatitude of an angel; can remain what they were in their lives on earth or become still more wicked through companionship with other, more evil souls. Their sphere of action is limited by nothing but the conditions of existence found on each spiritual level.” (The Lord’s Sermons, 15)
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